Wrench



Feb. 7, 1961 F. T. MILLER WRENCH Filed Nov. 14. 1958 III f/ Il r f, WNhm. nm

WRENCH Fred T. Miller, 547 Tomlinson St., Indianapolis, Ind.

Filed Nov. 14, 195s, ser. No. 113,906 s claims. (cl. 81-69) Thisinvention relates to a Wrench, and more particularly -to a chain-typewrench adapted to be used on articles having a smoothly curved or anangulated peripheral surface.

It is an object of my invention to provide an inexpensive light-weightwrench having a substantial lever action, which can be quickly andeasily adjusted for use with various sized articles, which can be soadjusted over a relatively wide range of gripping diameters, and whichwill tightly grip an article to provide a minimum amount of slippagethereon.

In carrying out my invention in its preferred form, there is provided anelongated handle having a plurality of arcuately disposed gear teethprojecting from one end thereof. An arcuate shoe is pivotally connectedto said handle adjacent said teeth for pivotal movement in the plane ofsaid teeth. A flexible link-chain is pivotally mounted on said shoe andis adapted to be wrapped around a work-piece so that said chain and theshoe will .grip thev work-piece for imparting a rotational movementthereto. The excess portion of the chain not disposed about thework-piece is adapted to be interposed between the shoe and the gearteeth whereby rotational movement of the gear teeth with respect to theshoe will tighten the chain and shoe against the Work-piece to bindinglygrip the surface thereof. Further rotational movement of the gear teethwill cause said chain and shoe to rotate with said teeth to impart saidrotational movement to the work-piece.

The accompanying drawing illustrates my invention. In such drawing:

Fig. l is a front elevation of a Wrench embodying my invention;

1 Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the wrench shown in Fig.

; and

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

As illustrated in the drawing, my wrench comprises an elongated handleconveniently formed as a metal casting. Desirably, one end of the handle10 is provided with a circular head 12 having a boss 14 formed on oneface thereof. A plurality of gear teeth 16 project outwardly from theend of the head 12 and constitute a sprocket-forming arcuate gearsegment coplanar with the handle 10.

A link 18 is pivotally mounted on the boss 14 as by a shouldered rivet20 extending through openings formed in the link 18 and the head 12. Theouter end of the link 18 is provided with an arcuate shoe 22 normal tothe link 18 and extending through the plane of the teeth 16. The shoe 22has an arc of opposite curvature to the curvature of the arc of the gearteeth 16, so that the outwardly presented face of the shoe 22 will havea curvature adapted to partially circumscribe a work-piece 24.Conveniently the outwardly presented face of the shoe 22 is serrated, asat 26, to increase the gripping action of the shoe. One edge of the link18 adjacent the shoe 22 may also be serrated, as at 27, to serve as asec- 2,970,501` Patented Feb. 7, 196.1:

ond work-piece engaging shoe, adapted to be used n association withsmall diameter work-pieces. As shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, thehandle 10 and the shoe 22 may be pivoted with respect to each otherthrough a wideangled arc to dispose the shoe on either side of the arcdelned by the gear teeth 16, said swinging movement being limited onlyby the ends of the shoe 22 engaging the lateral faces of the handle 10.When the shoe and/ or handle is swung into a position in which the arcsdened by said shoe and the teeth 16 are disposed in an overlappingrelationship, the spacing between the outer ends of the teeth 16 and theinner face of the shoe 22 will be relatively small.

One end of the shoe 22 extends beyond the link 18 to form a projection28 having a link-chain 30 pivotally mounted thereon as by a pin 32.Conveniently, the chain 30 is a conventional link-chain comprisingaplurality of transversely disposed pins 33 carrying bushings 34, withadjacent pairs of the pins 33 being interconnected by side plates 35received over the ends of the pins 33 projecting outwardly beyond theends of the bushings 34. Thus, the bushings 34, and the plates 3S, forma plurality of spaced openings adapted to be received over the gearteeth 16.

Operation of my device may be described as follows:

The handle 10 is swung into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1 toposition the shoe 22 beyond the outermost gear tooth 16. The chain 30 isthen wrapped about the work-piece 24, and the free end of the chain ispassed between the shoe 22 and the adjacent face of the head 12. Thehandle 10 is moved. in a clockwise direction rotating the teeth 16 withrespect to the shoe 22 with said teeth being received in the openingsformed by the bushings 34 and the side plates 35 of the chain. Thisclockwise rotation causes the chain 30 to tighten about the work-piece24 until the chain and the serrated face 26 of the shoe bindingly gripthe work-piece 24. With the chain and shoe bindingly gripping theworkpiece further clockwise vrotational movement of the handle and gearteeth causes a corresponding rotational movement to be imparted to thework-piece 24 through the chain and shoe. As illustrated in Fig. 3, withthe chain 30 disposed in an operative position between the gear teeth 16and the adjacent face of the shoe 22, the spacing between said teeth andthe shoe will be smaller than the thickness of the chain 30 to hold theteeth 16 in an operative position in the chain links. To release thewrench from the work-piece 24, it is merely necessary to rotate thehandle 10 in a counter-clockwise direction, thus releasing the chain 30from said work-piece.

In using the serrated portion 27 of the link 18, the chain 30 is wrappedaround the work-piece in the opposite direction from that when the shoe22 is employed. The chain is then disposed between the gear teeth 16 andthe shoe 22; and the handle 10 is rotated to tighten the chain 30 andthe serrated portion 27 against the Workpiece.

I claim as my invention:

1. A wrench, comprising an elongated handie, a plurality of arcuatelydisposed sprocket teeth projecting outwardly from one end of saidhandle, a linlt pivotally mounted on said handle adjacent the handle endcarrying said teeth, an arcuate shoe fixed on said link normal theretoand extending through the plane of said teeth, and a link-chain havingpins and side plates forming openings for engagement over said teeth,said chain being pivotally mounted on one end of said shoe and adaptedto be wrapped around a work-piece and interposed between said shoe andteeth for engagement with said teeth, said shoe being positioned to engage the workpiece and extending directly opposite said teeth to form apassage to receive a portion of the chain engaged by to slide `alongsaid .passage andxdraw .the ywork-.pieceagainst an edge face of thelshoe `to bindingly gripssaid work-piece for imparting rotationalmovement thereto.

2. A wrench according toclaim 1 with-the addition that said link'has aserrated edge face adjacent the chain mounting and extending from saidmounting towardand substantially radial to the arcuate toothedportion ofthe handle, said serrated edge face being positioned-and .arranged sothat when it is engaged against a relatively small workpiece the shoeand said `arcuate handle portion stand in converging relation-outwardlyYtherefrom and the chain may be wrapped `-around'the .workpiece andentered between the shoe and teeth in a direction opposite to that usedwhen the workpiece is clamped against said rshoe .edge face, to beslidablyftorced routward along the shoe to ,bindingly grip -therelatively small workpiece. v3. A Wrench according to claim `1 withthefaddition i 22,920,501 i f t 4 t that said link lies at one side ofthe wrenchvand closes the chain-receiving passage at such side of thewrench, said passage being open at the opposite side of the wrench, saidplurality of teeth extending through a limited length of arc on saidhandle and said handle being rotatable relative to the link to carry theteeth out of said chain-receiving passage, thereby permitting the chainto be inserted edgewise into the passage and freely adjusted therealong,and to be subsequently engaged with said teeth by rotation of the handlerelative .tothe,1ink to carry the vteeth back into said passage.

References cited in the me of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,358,078 Halbritter Nov. 9, 1920 1,548,344 Bessolo Aug. 4, 192511,651,575 Bessolo Dec..6 1927 1,860,012 ,Carpenter ,May 24, 1232

